In its Innovation Union Scoreboard 2010, the European Commission on Enterprise and Industry examines the innovative performance of each of the European nations, along with Croatia, Serbia, Turkey, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

The report identifies Denmark, Finland, Germany, and Sweden as innovation leaders, meaning they performed well above the average of the considered European nations overall. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom all performed near average.

The report found that Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania, however, performed well below average.

The Innovation Union is one of seven indicators that are part of the Europe 2020 Strategy, the European Union's overall growth strategy for the next decade.